The forever shrinking workshop blues #1: Intro

It seems with each passing day my shop gets smaller. I am forever editing tools and hardware I don’t need. I keep my scrap pile to a reasonable size, but no matter what I do I can’t stop the wall of my shop from closing in on me. now I know it’s only 14 by 24 and to a lot of woodworker that is small. I have been a trim carpenter and a cabinetmaker now for some 20 years and have always liked work in a small shop, but here lately I really feel the need for some space. I am guessing a lot of it has to do with wanting to expand my woodworking and add stained glass to the mix and maybe a finish room so I can spray my finishes. I know that my shop won’t be growing in size any time soon and the the overhead to rent a shop isn’t in the budget, done that for 4 years and don’t plan on ever doing it again. so I will just keep finding creative ways to save space and share them here. and by all means I will be taking all suggestions so if you have any send them my way, and building on is not an option for me, cause if I could of I would of…lol

14×24???!!! I can build an Ark in that size of shop! Quit whining! LOL. Nah, pictures are the best route or a diagram of how things are placed. One of the things that was helpful, while I was rearanging my shop, was to use Grizzly.com shop layout tool. I was able to show the layout of my shop and get friends advice on suggestions to move things and such.

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

My shop is 10’ x 12’. I have all kinds of ideas that I have yet to implement. My favorite solution though is to move outside in nice weather and build small things when it’s not.

Some of the things I have done…use the space between joists for storage. Both walls and ceiling. Also most of my tools are very portable. Scroll saw, router table, orbital sander, even my table saw….. are tucked away until I need to use them….just one stand/table serves them all.

Of course it’s almost impossible to do large projects in such a space but that’s where the outdoors comes in. Brunob’s suggestion is one that I’ve thought of (for when I get a dust collection system) also helps to move the noise outside. I was actually thinking of just having a blower discharge into my compost bin which is even better.

Sketchup is a great tool for shop organization. This is a dream shop of mine…sigh….someday.